Unlock 5.0: Schools may not reopen in this state soon - Check details here

Karnataka Education Minister S Suresh Kumar on Wednesday said that the state government has not yet decided to re-open schools, adding that the Education Department would give a report to the Chief Minister within five days to take a final call in this regard.

"Today, we had a discussion with the officials and gathered information on opening of the schools...Our department has not taken any decision yet," the minister told reporters after a meeting with the officials and office-bearers of teachers' associations.

It is learnt that more meetings would be held by Education Department in the coming days with the officials of the social welfare department, Bengaluru civic agency, health department and representatives of school development and monitoring committees. According to Kumar, the department would compile the views of various stakeholders and submit a report to the chief minister.

"After collecting all the information, we will submit a report to the Chief Minister. We will explain to him the entire situation and then we will announce our future course of action," the Minister said.

It may be recalled that the Education Department succeeded in conducting the 10th annual examination in June despite the epidemic. However, the state government's attempt to re-open schools faced stiff resistance from the opposition parties and the parents.

Earlier, the Karnataka government had scheduled a meeting on November 2 between all the concerned officials regarding the plan to reopen the schools and colleges but the meeting was postponed to November 4.

The state government is planning to reopen schools and colleges since Karnataka is recording a fewer number of Covid-19 cases in the past few weeks. Schools and colleges in Karnataka were shut down in March due to coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.